Information about Atlantis. Outside the Mediterranean. Why did Atlantis die?

But where Atlantis was "found", it did not correspond to Plato's descriptions. And in the place indicated by the philosopher (that is, behind the Pillars of Hercules), this mysterious land cannot be found until now ...

Among scientists there are two approaches to the term "Atlantis". As mentioned above, in the first Atlantis was called Atlantis by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. But the predecessors of Plato also knew about it, although they called this country by other names. Ancient authors understood Atlantis as a certain state that was at the same stage of development with Greece, fought with it and died in a grandiose catastrophe during one of the wars.

However, in the occult sciences there is an idea of Atlantis as a kind of proto-civilization that preceded ours and died as a result of a series of catastrophes. The myths and legends of the peoples of the most various countries living on different continents. But many of them have an idea of some kind of people that preceded modern humanity and died as a result of some powerful cataclysm.

"Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer," the great Aristotle once said. This is how this problem was posed: where, when and how did the state of the Atlanteans exist? Someone recognizes the existence of Atlantis without any doubt, someone rejects it without any doubt, based on the formula: "This cannot be, because this can never be." But most researchers consider the existence of Atlantis quite probable, but requiring proof. The Greek philosopher Krantor says that in 3010 BC. I saw a column in Egypt, on which the whole history of the island that disappeared in the depths of the sea was engraved.

What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared in the course of one day and one tragic night - "in one terrible day."

Starting to describe Atlantis, Plato warns that both the name of the island itself and all the other names in his story are not corrupted, but translated into Greek. The Egyptians, who first wrote the history of Atlantis, translated the Atlantean names in their own way. Solon, who informed Plato of information about this island, did not see the need to preserve the Egyptian names and translated them into Greek.

Russian symbolist poet V.Ya. Bryusov in his essay "Atlantis" notes that "Plato describes Atlantis already in the state it reached after several millennia. cultural life when the island already had many separate kingdoms, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions. "And the history of the island itself began with the division of the earth between the three brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. By lot, Poseidon got the island of At -lantis and, in addition, he became the ruler of the seas.When Poseidon received Atlantis, then only three people lived on the island - "one of the husbands, at the very beginning, was born by the Earth, named Evnor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito" Poseidon fell in love with Kleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.

Poseidon was the first to fortify the island in order to make it inaccessible to enemies. Around a low hill, gradually turning into a plain, three water and two earth rings were dug around the circumference, one after the other. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a hill, Poseidon built a small temple for Kleito and himself, surrounding it with a wall of pure gold.

A palace was built on the acropolis, which was expanded and decorated by each king, and the new one was sure to surpass its predecessor. "So it was impossible to see this building without being amazed at the size and beauty of the work."

The largest and most majestic building of the acropolis was a temple dedicated to one god Poseidon. He was in truth giant size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and "appropriate" height. From the outside, a large temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the "ends" made of pure gold. Inside the temple there were many statues made of gold. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so tall that it almost touched the ceiling with its head, which was trimmed with ivory and all decorated with gold, silver and orichalcum. The walls, pillars and floors inside the temple were entirely lined with orichalcum. Everything literally sparkled and "lit up", as soon as the sunbeam penetrated into the sanctuary.

Plato also tells a lot of wonderful things about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then proceeds to describe the whole country. "The island of Atlantis was very elevated above sea level, and the coast rose in an inaccessible cliff. Around the capital, a plain stretched, surrounded by mountains that reached the sea." Everyone said about this plain that it is the most beautiful on earth and very fertile. It was densely dotted with flourishing villages, separated by lakes, rivers, meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed.

Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, in view of the vastness of their power; but the island itself produced almost everything necessary for life. "Firstly, all metals are hard and fusible, suitable for processing, including the one that we now know only by name: orichalcum ... its deposits were found in many places on the island; after gold, it was the most precious of metals.

The island delivered all the necessary materials for crafts. Lived on an island a large number of domestic animals and wild animals, among other things, many elephants ... The island provided abundant food for all kinds of animals, both living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on mountains and plains, and these (elephants), although they are huge and gluttonous.

Produced and delivered to the island all the flavors now grown in different countries, roots, herbs, juice flowing from fruits and flowers. There was also a fruit that gives wine (grapes), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat, calling common word- vegetables; there were also fruits that simultaneously gave drink, food and incense (coconuts?) ... Such were the divine and amazing riches, such, in innumerable quantities, this island produced.

On a happy island, each of the ten brothers-kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but the general rule of the state of Atlantis was decided by the kings by the Council, to which they gathered after 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The supreme power always remained with the direct heir of Atlantis, but even the main king could not sentence death penalty none of his relatives without the consent of the majority of the kings. "As long as the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during their reign and as long as the "divine principle" dominated in them, they succeeded in everything. But when the "human disposition" triumphed - the base beginning, when they lost all decency and unbridled greed began to boil in them, when people began to present a "shameful sight", then the God of the Gods - Zeus, seeing the depravity of the Atlanteans, once so virtuous, decided to punish them. "He gathered all the gods in the heavenly sanctuary and addressed them with these words ...".

This is where Plato's dialogue "Critias" abruptly ends. And the story of Atlantis and its search for two thousand years begins. The priests lamented the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang about the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis in order to express his thoughts about the ideal structure of the state.

But the story of Atlantis, as noted by Valery Bryusov, "is not something exceptional in Plato's writings. He also has other descriptions of fantastic countries, denounced in the form of myths. But none of these stories is furnished, like the description of Atlantis, with references to sources Plato, as if anticipating future doubts and objections, takes care to indicate the origin of his information with the greatest accuracy that only ancient authors knew.

At the beginning of the 20th century, three expeditions were equipped and sent in search of Atlantis, one of which (the second) was led by Pavel Schliemann, the grandson of the famous discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. "According to Pavel Schliemann, his famous grandfather left a sealed envelope so that it would be opened by one of the family members who would give a solemn promise to devote his whole life to research, indications of which he would find in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann took such an oath, opened the envelope Heinrich Schliemann reported that he undertook research on the remains of Atlantis, the existence of which he has no doubts and which he considers the cradle of our entire civilization. large sizes, inside which were smaller clay vessels, small figurines made of a special metal, money from the same metal, and objects "made from fossil bones." On some of these objects and on a bronze vessel was written "Phoenician hieroglyphs": "From the king of Atlantis Chronos." But many researchers, Russian and foreign, this story is distrustful.

The search for Atlantis was and is being conducted everywhere - all over the globe. The Soviet hydrogeographer Ya.Ya. Gakkel presented his "Atlantis" in the form of a narrow strip that stretches along the underwater Lomonosov Ridge and connects the Canadian arctic archipelago With New Siberian Islands. Active Member Geographic Society, member of the Scientific Council on Cybernetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Kondratov devoted many works to the links between the history of mankind and the history of the oceans. He wrote many books about the legendary Platonic Atlantis and numerous "Atlantis" - the so-called hypothetical lands, now submerged.

Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina in their works on natural disasters and aliens from outer space write that the Atlantean navigators explored the Earth ... They say that "they traveled through the air and under water, photographed objects at a great distance, used X-rays, fixed images and sounds on video tapes, used a laser from a crystal, invented a terrible weapon using cosmic rays, and also used the energy of antimatter.However, the use of the dark forces of nature by ambitious priests for selfish purposes and more frequent earthquakes led to the disintegration of the mainland into many islands, which later also disappeared into the sea And ten thousand years before our era underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. But the radiation emitted by a large crystal lying at the site of the death of Atlantis leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and aircraft in the known bermuda triangle".

As can be seen from the foregoing, the geography of the search for Atlantis is very wide and varied.

In the works of some ancient Greek historians, geographers, mythographers, mathematicians, theologians and astronomers, there are references to one state that has sunk into oblivion: the legendary island of Atlantis. About two thousand years ago, Plato, Herodotus, Diodorus and other respected authors wrote about him in their writings.

Basic information about the lost Atlantis is contained in the writings of Plato. In the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, he talks about an island state that existed about 11,500 years ago.

According to Plato, the god Poseidon was the ancestor of the Atlanteans. He connected his life with a mortal girl who bore him ten sons. When the children grew up, the father divided the island between them. The best part sushi went to the eldest son of Poseidon: Atlan.

Atlantis was a powerful, wealthy and populous state. Its inhabitants built a serious system of defense against external enemies and built a network of circular canals leading to the sea, as well as an internal port.

Large cities were distinguished by amazing architectural structures and beautiful sculptures: temples made of gold and silver, golden statues and statues. The island was very fertile, with a variety of natural world; in the bowels of the earth, people mined copper and silver.

The Atlanteans were a warlike people: the army of the state included a navy of 1000 ships, the number of crews was equal to 240 thousand people; The ground army consisted of 700 thousand people. The descendants of Poseidon fought successfully for many years, conquering new territories and wealth; so it was until Athens stood in their way.

The Athenians, in order to defeat the Atlanteans, created a military alliance with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. But on the day of the battle, the allies refused to fight, and the Athenians were left face to face with the enemy. The fearless courageous Greeks defeated the aggressor and liberated the peoples previously enslaved by him.

But early Greek warriors rejoiced at their achievements: the gods decided to intervene in the affairs of people, who had been watching the inhabitants of Atlantis for the last centuries. Zeus considered that the Atlanteans had become greedy, greedy, depraved and decided to punish them to the fullest extent by flooding the island along with its inhabitants and the Athenians who did not have time to celebrate the victory.

Here is what Plato writes about Atlantis in his two writings. At first glance, it's simple beautiful legend, interesting story. There is no direct evidence for the existence of Atlantis in ancient times, nor any reference to authoritative sources.

But these two dialogues survived not only Plato himself, but also two millennia more - during this time many disputes and theories arose regarding lost state.

Plato's student Aristotle, who listened to the speeches of the Platonist philosophers for about 20 years, eventually categorically rejected the existence of Atlantis, stating that the dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias" are just an invention, the nonsense of an old man.

It was because of Aristotle that Atlantis was talked about reluctantly, in an undertone until the end of the 18th century. After all, this venerable philosopher enjoyed unquestioned authority in Europe, especially in the Middle Ages. All statements of Aristotle were perceived by Europeans as the ultimate truth.

So why was Aristotle so sure that Atlantis was fiction, because he did not have irrefutable evidence of this? Why was he so harsh in his judgments? Some sources claim that the philosopher simply did not like his mentor, so he decided in this way to spoil the authority of Plato in the eyes of his admirers and admirers.

Mentions of Atlanteans in the writings of other ancient authors

Other ancient authors wrote very little about Atlantis: Herodotus claimed that the Atlanteans had no names, did not see dreams and were defeated by troglodytes - cavemen; according to the stories of Diodorus, the inhabitants of Atlantis fought with the Amazons. Posidonius, who was interested in the causes of land subsidence, believed that Plato's story was plausible.

Proclus in his writings reports on one follower of the ancient thinker: an Athenian Krantor.

Allegedly, he specially went to Egypt 47 years after the death of the philosopher, in order to find evidence in favor of the existence of an island state; returning from a trip, Crantor said that in one of the ancient temples he saw columns with inscriptions retelling the historical events described by Plato.

Search for Atlantis

It is quite difficult to indicate the exact location of the lost Atlantis: there are many hypotheses about where the flooded state may be.

Plato wrote that huge island was once in the ocean behind the Pillars of Hercules (i.e., beyond Gibraltar). But his searches in the area of the Canary, Balearic, Azores and British Islands did not lead to anything.

Some researchers suggest looking for the remains of the material culture of the Atlanteans in the Black Sea, linking the flooding of the island with " Black Sea flood”, which occurred 7-8 millennia ago - then the sea level in less than a year rose, according to various estimates, from 10 to 80 meters.

There is a hypothesis according to which Antarctica is lost Atlantis. Scientists who adhere to this theory believe that Antarctica in ancient times was shifted to south pole due to a lithospheric shift or a sharp displacement of the earth's axis as a result of the collision of our planet with a large cosmic body.

There is also an opinion that traces of Atlantis can be found in South America or Brazil. But most interpreters of Plato's dialogues are sure: the lost island should be looked for only in the Atlantic Ocean.

In recent decades, the lost state has been looking for many expeditions, most of which returned empty-handed. True, from time to time the whole world is disturbed by news about the found traces of a flooded island.

Have the Russians found Atlantis?

In 1979, a Soviet expedition, while testing a diving bell, accidentally discovered some objects in the Atlantic Ocean that looked like the ruins of ancient city.

The action unfolded just behind the “Pillars of Hercules” indicated by Plato, 500 km from Gibraltar, above the Amper seamount, which protruded above the surface of the ocean many millennia ago, but then for some reason went under water.

Three years later, the Soviet ship "Rift" went to the same place to explore the ocean floor with the help of the Argus submersible. The aquanauts were amazed by what they saw; from their words, they opened the panorama of the city ruins: the remains of rooms, squares, streets.

But the expedition that took place in 1984 did not live up to the hopes of the researchers: an analysis of two stones raised from the ocean floor showed that it was just volcanic rock, solidified lava, and not the creation of human hands.

The opinion of modern scientists about Atlantis

Atlantis is a fantasy

Most modern historians and philologists are convinced that Plato's dialogues are just a beautiful legend, of which the philosopher has many. There are no traces of this state either in Greece, or in the west of Europe, or in Africa - this is confirmed by archaeological excavations.

The opinion of scientists that Atlantis is just a figment of the imagination is also based on the following: the philosopher writes about the network of canals built on the island, about the inner port, but such large-scale projects in ancient times were beyond the power of people.

Plato indicated the approximate date of the island's sinking into the ocean depths: 9000 years before he wrote the dialogues (i.e., approximately 9500 BC). But this contradicts the data modern science: at that time, mankind was just emerging from the Paleolithic era. It is not easy to believe that somewhere in those days there lived a people who overtook the entire human race in their development by thousands of years.

Many scientists are convinced that Plato, when writing his works, took as a basis some of the events that took place during his lifetime: for example, the defeat of the Greeks when they tried to conquer the island of Sicily and the flooding of the town of Gelika as a result of an earthquake followed by a flood.

Other researchers believe that the basis for the works of the philosopher was the volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini, which subsequently hit the coast of Crete and other islands of the Mediterranean Sea - this disaster led to the decline of the developed Minoan civilization.

The version is supported by the following fact: the Minoans really fought against the Archeans who inhabited Greece in ancient times and were even defeated by them (just like the Atlanteans were defeated by the Greeks in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias).

In general, many researchers of the thinker's works believe that Plato, being a utopian idealist, with his writings only wanted to call his contemporaries to build an ideal exemplary humane state in which there would be no place for dictatorship, violence and tyranny.

However, the philosopher himself in the dialogues constantly emphasizes that Atlantis is not just a legend, but an island state that once really existed.

Plato doesn't lie

Some researchers nevertheless admit that there is a grain of truth in the writings of the ancient thinker. Excavations carried out in last years archaeologists, helped scientists gain new information about life and technical achievements our ancestors living 5-10 thousand years ago.

Modern archaeologists find the remains of grandiose structures created by ancient people everywhere: in Egypt, Sumer, Babylon. Tunnels for collecting groundwater, many kilometers of galleries, stone dams, man-made lakes- all these structures operated long before the birth of Plato.

Consequently, the philosopher's dialogues cannot be attributed to fiction only on the grounds that mankind 11 millennia ago was unable to build a network of canals and bridges: the last archaeological excavations prove the opposite.

In addition, since the works of Plato rewritten more than once have come down to us, it is likely that over the two millennia there has been a confusion with dates.

The fact is that in the system of Egyptian hieroglyphs, the number "9000" is indicated by lotus flowers, and the number "900" - rope knots; supporters of the existence of Atlantis believe that later scribes of dialogues could easily confuse characters so similar to each other, thus pushing historical event several thousand years ago.

On top of that, Plato, who belongs to one highly revered in Ancient Greece family, in his dialogues he refers to his ancestor: the wisest of the "seven wise men" legislator Solon. And the ancient Greeks were very kind to their roots, tried to protect the sacred memory of their relatives. Would Plato, given his moral qualities, refer to Solon in his works, because if the whole story with Atlantis is just a fiction, he would tarnish the name of the wisest representative of the family?

Afterword

Atlantis has been shrouded in a halo of mystery for many centuries. People have been trying to find the suddenly disappeared state for almost two thousand years: some - wanting to take possession of the treasures described by Plato, others - out of scientific interest, others - just out of curiosity.

In the 50s of the last century, a doctrine called atlantology even appeared, its main task is to identify true information about Atlantis in historical sources and mythical traditions.

Debate over whether there ever was mysterious land or the ancient Greek thinker simply invented it, do not subside to this day. Various theories are born and die, conjectures appear and disappear. Some of them are supported by science, while others are more like a beautiful fairy tale.

Perhaps our children or grandchildren will solve the riddle of Atlantis. But it may turn out that another two thousand years will pass, and the mystery of the lost island will remain unsolved, and our descendants, just like we today, will be tormented by conjectures and assumptions.

ARTICLE IN VIDEO FORMAT

Disputes about the legendary island of Atlantis, on which the city of the Atlanteans was located, have not ceased for two millennia - ever since the great Plato spoke about it in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Wherever they looked for this mysterious country: in the Atlantic Ocean and South America, the Mediterranean Sea and Africa, in Asia Minor, the North Sea and in many other places. But where Atlantis was "found", it did not correspond to Plato's descriptions. And in the place indicated by the philosopher (that is, behind the Pillars of Hercules), this mysterious land cannot be found until now ...

However, in the occult sciences there is an idea of Atlantis as a kind of proto-civilization that preceded ours and died as a result of a series of catastrophes. This is also evidenced by the myths and legends of the peoples of various countries living on different continents. But many of them have an idea of some kind of people that preceded modern humanity and died as a result of some kind of powerful cataclysm.
"Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer," the great Aristotle once said. This is how this problem was posed: where, when and how did the state of the Atlanteans exist? Someone recognizes the existence of Atlantis without any doubt, someone rejects it without any doubt, based on the formula: "This cannot be, because this can never be." But most researchers consider the existence of Atlantis quite probable, but requiring proof. The Greek philosopher Krantor says that in 3010 BC. I saw a column in Egypt, on which the whole history of the island that disappeared in the depths of the sea was engraved.

What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared in one day and one tragic night - "in one terrible day." Starting to describe Atlantis, Plato warns that both the name of the island itself and all the other names in his story are not corrupted, but translated into Greek. The Egyptians, who first wrote the history of Atlantis, twisted the Atlantean names in their own way. Solon, who informed Plato of information about this island, did not see the need to preserve the Egyptian names and translated them into Greek.

Some believe that the legendary Atlantis was in the Aegean Sea, others are sure that it plunged into the abyss Atlantic Ocean near the current Azores, others are looking for it near the Celtic Range of Great Britain or even in the South China Sea. But California's Robert Sarmast thinks everyone is looking for her in the wrong place. According to him, Atlantis was in Cyprus, which was almost proved by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. “The island of Cyprus was part of Atlantis, the top of a mountain,” says Sarmast. “This area was at the very center of the ancient world.”
The messages of the ancient Athenian legislator Solon and the text in which Plato describes a powerful civilization destroyed by an angry Zeus have occupied the minds of researchers for many centuries.

Geologists say that the mass of the central mountain range Cyprus once formed the seabed. Sarmast believes that the mountainous island was the pinnacle of a territory inhabited by a submerged civilization. And she died as a result of a devastating earthquake and subsequent floods thousands of years ago. Drawing on depth surveys, seafloor modeling, and 50 markers found in Plato's Critias and Timaeus dialogues, Sarmast claims to have discovered a submerged rectangular earth mass extending northward. east of Cyprus towards Syria: "Everything matches the dialogue with unprecedented accuracy." Based on data collected ten years ago, Sarmast compiled a detailed three-dimensional map and modeled the bottom of the eastern Mediterranean: “If you lower the sea level by 1600 meters, the island will rise to the surface,” the researcher said.

The Russian symbolist poet V. Ya. Bryusov in his essay "Atlantis" notes that "Plato describes Atlantis already in the state it reached after several millennia of cultural life, when there were already many separate kingdoms on the island, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions.

And the history of the island itself began with the division of the earth between the three brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. By lot, Poseidon got the island of Atlantis and, in addition, he became the ruler of the seas. When Poseidon received Atlantis, only three people lived on the island - "one of the husbands, at the very beginning, was born by the Earth, named Eunor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito." Poseidon fell in love with Kleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.

The kings - the children of Poseidon, of course, could not do without bathing, and for this reason they built numerous baths on the acropolis. "For swimming there were reservoirs, open, and, for winter, closed; there were special ones - for the royal family and for private individuals; still others - separately for women, and also for horses and pack animals; each of them was located and decorated according to The water that came out of these reservoirs was directed to irrigate the forest of Poseidon, where the fertility of the soil produced trees of amazing height and beauty.
The largest and most majestic building of the acropolis was a temple dedicated to one god Poseidon. It was truly gigantic in size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and a "corresponding" height. From the outside, a large temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the "ends" made of pure gold. Inside the temple there were many statues made of gold. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so high that it almost touched the ceiling with its head, which was trimmed with ivory and all decorated with gold, silver and orichalcum. The walls, pillars and floors inside the temple were entirely lined with orichalcum. Everything literally sparkled and "lit up", as soon as the sunbeam penetrated into the sanctuary.

Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, in view of the vastness of their power; but the island itself produced almost everything necessary for life. "Firstly, all metals are hard and fusible, suitable for processing, including the one that we now know only by name: orichalcum ... ... its deposits were found in many places on the island; after gold, it was the most precious of metals.

The island delivered all the necessary materials for crafts. A large number of domestic animals and wild animals lived on the island, by the way, many elephants ... ... The island provided abundant food for all kinds of animals, both living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on mountains and in plains, and these (elephants), although they huge and greedy.

Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina in their works on natural disasters and aliens from outer space write that the Atlantean navigators explored the Earth ...... They say that "they traveled through the air and under water, photographed objects at a great distance, used X-rays, fixed images and sounds on a video tape, used a laser from a crystal, invented a terrible weapon using cosmic rays, and also used the energy of antimatter.

However, the use of the dark forces of nature for selfish purposes by ambitious priests and the increasing frequency of earthquakes led to the disintegration of the mainland into many islands, which later also disappeared into the sea. And ten thousand years before our era, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. But the radiation emitted by a large crystal lying at the site of the death of Atlantis leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and aircraft in the famous Bermuda Triangle.
As can be seen from the foregoing, the geography of the search for Atlantis is very wide and varied.

One of the mysteries ancient history is the fate of Atlantis and its death. The story of this disappeared island has been preserved only in two dialogues of the Greek philosopher Plato - Critias and Timaeus. Plato himself called it "the true truth" and attributed it to the ancient sage Solon, who lived two centuries earlier.

In turn, he heard about Atlantis, having visited Egypt - in the city of Sais. Here, asking the priests about ancient times, he learned about the island, which "exceeded in its size Libya and Asia combined" and lay on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

This island could be called an "earthly paradise." The local wealth attracted people from all surrounding countries. Ships hurried to Atlantis, "merchants arrived from everywhere, and, moreover, in such a multitude that conversation, noise and knocking were heard day and night."

The trading power of the Atlanteans was combined with military power. Human strength could not defeat them. The inhabitants of Atlantis enslaved "all the countries on this side of the strait." However, they were also powerless against the gods. "The time has come for unprecedented earthquakes and floods." Finally, the earth opened up and "in one terrible day" swallowed up Atlantis. The island disappeared, "plunging into the abyss." It happened around 9600 BC.

Most ancient scientists (but not all!) believed Plato. So, the geographer Strabo, describing known lands, noted: "The story of the island of Atlantis may not be fiction." The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus recalled that the Atlantic Sea swallowed up "an island larger than all of Europe" - an island that existed "somewhere". That was the ancient answer.

Centuries have passed. In the 16th century, during the era of the Great geographical discoveries, the riddle of Atlantis began to be solved again, trying to find its exact position. At first, it was placed off the coast of America, because Plato said that it was easy to move from Atlantis "to the opposite mainland." The hypothesis that the descendants of the Atlanteans settled America would later become popular.

Gradually, the search area expanded. Archaeologists who searched for Atlantis at the tip of a pen discovered traces of it everywhere.

Greenland? Did it once connect America and Europe? Perhaps, in ancient times, the northern peoples wandered on dry land from one part of the world to another?

Sahara? Why not Atlantis, whose lands "provided water in abundance, and, moreover, amazing in taste"? What if there was huge lake, devastated by an earthquake, and the ancient Atlanteans fled after this disaster, scorched by the sun and driven by thirst? Their descendants are the Berbers.

Lake Titicaca in the mountains South America? Yes, because it lies on a high-mountain plateau, similar in everything to Atlantis, as Plato described it: “This whole region lay very high and steeply cut off to the sea, but the whole plain that surrounded the city and itself was surrounded by mountains that stretched to the sea, was a flat surface."

Azores? Certainly. Not far from them, at the bottom of the sea, they found blocks of solidified lava. In this case, Atlantis, like Pompeii, was destroyed by a volcano.

Troy? In the 1990s, the German archaeologist Eberhard Zangger suggested that under the name of Atlantis, Plato described Troy, albeit noticeably distorted its appearance.

Cyprus? In the fall of 2004, there were reports that "something similar" to Atlantis was found at the bottom of the sea, east of the island. However, only its newly discovered discoverer managed to recognize the features of a forgotten country in the underwater ridges.

Spain? In March 2011, an archaeologist from the University of Hartford, Richard Freund, discovered traces of an ancient city in a marshy area north of Cadiz, which, according to his hypothesis, was destroyed by a tsunami. In plan, this city had the shape of a ring. But after all, the capital of Atlantis, which lay about 10 kilometers from the sea, was surrounded by a system of round canals.

More than 10 thousand books tell about Atlantis. Ten thousand books, and almost every one of them indicates a new place of the disaster and new date death legendary country. As a result, the events described by Plato could take place in the period from 80,000 BC to 1200 BC.

At the first conference of atlantologists, held in 2005 in Greece, 24 criteria were established that a place where Atlantis could be located should satisfy. So far no such places have been found. The authors of hypotheses invariably fantasize "on the theme of Plato", as if not trying to read his story to the end.

So did Atlantis not exist? Was there an island that sank into the sea? Islands whose inhabitants challenged the Egyptians and Athenians? A fabulously wealthy island?

Back in the middle of the 19th century, while exploring the island of Thira (Fera), or Santorin, which lay 120 kilometers north of Crete, French archaeologists were surprised to note that it was covered with a thick layer of ash and pumice, under which lies an ancient settlement. It must have been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. However, this discovery did not arouse much interest.

Excavations of the city of Gortyna (Gortys) Crete

Meanwhile, half a century later, the English archaeologist Arthur Evans discovered traces of a great civilization on the island of Crete. Four thousand years ago, huge palaces were built here, their walls were painted with frescoes, elegant dishes were made, jewelry made of gold and ivory.

Hundreds of villages and towns dotted the island. It was as densely populated as Plato's Atlantis. He was rich, handsome and great. Ancient Greek culture owes a lot to Cretan. However, around 1500 BC Cretan state comes into decline. An inexplicable fate destroys her. She will never be reborn.

Perhaps the Santorini volcano was to blame? But how could he threaten Crete? “At such a distance, there is nothing to be afraid of hot ash, and an earthquake caused by volcanic activity is barely perceptible,” was the opinion of skeptics. But they were put to shame.

In the 1950s and 1960s, a picture of the eruption of the Santorin volcano, one of the strongest volcanic eruptions in human memory, was recreated. It was accompanied by a powerful tidal wave - a tsunami that devastated the coast of Crete.

The Santorini catastrophe happened exactly 900 years before Solon learned from the Egyptian priests the history of Atlantis. Exactly 900, not 9000! And it sheds some light on the date confusion. The fact is that the Egyptians wrote these numbers in a similar way. It is not surprising for a stranger to make a mistake!

Plato noted in his dialogues that Atlantis consisted of two islands - a small round island, in the middle of which "there was a mountain, low on all sides", crowned with the temple of Poseidon, as well as an extended island, partly occupied by a plain, partly by mountains. In this description, Crete and Santorin are quite guessed, in the middle of which a volcano rose. Then "fire and water" fell on people. This is how Santorini perished.

Obviously, this is how Atlantis died. Forgotten about its inhabitants. In the story of the Egyptian priests, they turned into "Atlanteans".

It is worth adding that a huge contribution to the study of the problem of Atlantis was made by the Soviet researcher Nikolai Feodosevich Zhirov (1903-1970). Doctor of Chemistry, retired early due to disability, he devoted himself to the existence of Atlantis.

His final work "Atlantis: the main problems of atlantology" was published in 1964, but, despite the huge interest in this topic, it was released in only 12,000 copies. Fortunately, for everyone who lives in eternal search Atlantis, it was republished several years ago by the Moscow publishing house "Veche".

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The mystery of Atlantis is described in many works, both adventure novels and serious scientific research. To date, scientists and enthusiastic researchers have put forward more than 1,700 hypotheses about the location of this mysterious continent and the reasons for its disappearance without a trace. However, not so unimportant.

One of the most prominent scientists of ancient Greece, Plato, in the works "Critias" and "Timaeus", mentions Atlantis, referring to data from the diaries of his great-grandfather, the no less famous Athenian poet and statesman Solon. An Egyptian priest told him about the existence of a large country of the Atlanteans, which fought with the Greeks as far back as 9000. According to this fragmentary information, the land of the Atlanteans was somewhere on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. According to Plato, according to Solon, Atlantis was a large and rich country with big cities and a very developed economy at that time. picturesque country territory, covered with dense forests, was indented by numerous irrigation canals. Atlantis was a federation of ten kingdoms. The Atlanteans hoped to expand their territory and tried to enslave Athens and Egypt, however, they suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against the Athenian army. According to the same data, as a result of a terrible earthquake during the day, the mighty Atlantis disappeared forever under water.

Scholars to this day have not come to a consensus regarding Plato's account of this mysterious country. Perhaps Atlantis was just a product of one of the ancient Greek legends? This assumption is supported by the fact that not all of Plato's stories were believed even by his contemporaries. According to these scientists, in such ancient times, 9000 years before the birth of Plato, such a highly developed culture could not have existed. It could not for the simple reason that at that time the end of the ice age had just come. Many scientists agree that at one time cavemen and highly developed Atlanteans could live. And can it be that an entire country suddenly disappeared without a trace. However, most scientists argue that Atlantis could well exist in reality, because the legends had to have at least some basis, and most of the myths reflected the events that took place in reality.

After all, the ruins of the once mythical ancient Troy, which was also considered a figment of the fantasy of blind Homer, were found by archaeologists. And not so long ago, the fact was scientifically proven that the ancient Greeks could make quite long long journeys on their ships, and, like Odysseus, reach the shores of Colchis, the country of the Golden Fleece. As for the huge and destructive power of earthquakes, then, according to geologists, it is really capable of burying a vast territory in a short time.

True, if we assume that Atlantis really existed, another rather important question arises. Where should researchers go, where should they look for this mythical land? Scientists from different times and countries could never come to a consensus. Some of them believed that mysterious Atlantis sank to the bottom of the central part of the Atlantic Ocean - somewhere between two continents, Europe and North America. This statement is based on the words of Plato, who noted that the mysterious land was located in front of the strait, called the Pillars of Heracles (framed by the rocks of Abilik and Kalpa), which was located near the Strait of Gibraltar. In addition, many of the same species of animals and plants live in these lands. In addition, not so long ago, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, located in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, was discovered. A vast plateau with a number of ridges adjoins the ridge, the peaks of which form the Azores.

It is likely that this area was once land and about 12 thousand years ago, during a geological catastrophe, it sank to the ocean floor. This period just coincides with the alleged time of the existence of Atlantis. After that, the warm Gulf Stream finally reached the shores of Northern Europe, and as a result, the ice age ended in our part of the world. This version of warming in Europe was put forward by the Russian scientist N.F. Zhirov, as well as some other researchers. It is likely that the Azores and the island of Madeira are the very remnants of the lost mainland. According to some scientists, not all the inhabitants of Atlantis died during the collapse of their mainland - some survivors reached the shores of America, while others reached Europe. It was they who laid the foundation for the greatest civilizations of Mexico and Peru, as well as Egypt and Mesopotamia. This explains the striking similarity in their architecture, traditions and religions, all the more surprising because the countries were far from each other.

Indeed, the inhabitants of both sides of the Atlantic equally worshiped the Sun, and believed in the myth of the global flood, which was widespread both in Mesopotamia and among the Indian tribes that inhabited South and North America. It is striking that the language of the Basques living in northern Spain in Pyrenees mountains totally different from others European languages, but it is very similar to the languages of some Indian tribes. And the ancient pyramids created by our ancestors in Mexico and Egypt have a lot in common.

In addition, in both countries there is a custom of mummification of the dead, moreover, the same objects are placed in their graves. But the main thing is that in the places where the burials of the Mayan tribes are located, archaeologists find jewelry made of green jade, the deposits of which simply do not exist in America. Maybe he got there from Atlantis?

According to a legend widespread among the Indians of Peru and Mexico, which tells about the white god Quetzacoatl, he arrived on the mainland on a sailboat from the edge of the early sun - that is, from the east. God taught the Indian tribes construction and craft, revealed laws and religion to them, and then mysteriously disappeared. The Peruvians, who did not know about the existence of the Aztecs, believed in the same legend, with one amendment - their god was called Viracocha. Perhaps these people came from Atlantis? It is believed that their images are found on the walls of the cities of Chichen Itza and Tiguanacu.

Scientists refer to the evidence of the existence of Atlantis and the ruins of ancient Indian cities, the remains of which are located in the Peruvian Andes and the impenetrable jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In the autumn of 1970, while inspecting the coastal waters of the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean from a seaplane, D. Rebikov, a French archaeologist and aquanaut, noticed strange ruins of some buildings on the ocean floor near the island of North Bimini. Divers who went down under the water found giant walls more than a hundred meters long. They were built from giant blocks, each of which weighed about 25 tons. By whom were they built? Perhaps Atlanteans? True, it was soon discovered that these "walls" arose as a result of cracking of coastal rocks that had gone under water due to the gradual sinking to the bottom. Bahamas.

They are also looking for Atlantis in the Mediterranean. The most plausible is the opinion of the Russian scientist A. S. Norov, who considered the island of Crete and many small Greek islands to the north of it to be the remnants of a continent that had sunk into oblivion. The well-known Soviet geographer L. S. Berg agreed with this opinion. Today, this theory is supported by the vast majority of scientists. This version is supported by recent studies in this area and in the Atlantic Ocean.

When studying the area of the alleged death of Atlantis at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists found that the average thickness of sedimentary rocks in this zone is about 4 meters. At the same time, at the current rate of accumulation of such rocks, which is 10-15 mm per thousand years, this will require at least 300 thousand years, and certainly not 12 thousand, as argued by supporters of the Atlantean origin of the mysterious Atlantis.

In addition, according to evidence from oceanographic studies of recent times, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the result of a geological event during which the continents of Africa and South America were “torn apart”. Scientists separately noted the features of the coastline pattern: the western line of the African mainland and the eastern line of the South American.

Accordingly, in order for Atlantis to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, there is simply no place in it. But then what to do with Plato's message about where the disappeared country is located, allegedly located in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that is Strait of Gibraltar? Under the name "Pillars of Hercules" before Plato could mean a completely different place. What is it? Disputes of researchers do not subside until now.

Regarding the Mediterranean location of Atlantis, assumed by most scientists, they provide a number of fairly weighty evidence.

For example, it has been established that on the island of Thira (Santorini), located in the Aegean Sea, about 3.5 thousand years ago, there was a volcanic explosion of destructive force, similar to the one that was noted in 1883 on the island of Krakatau, which in South-East Asia, among the islands of Indonesia. Apparently, it was the greatest geological catastrophe in the entire history of our planet.

In terms of its strength, the explosion of the Santorin volcano was equal to the explosion of about 200 thousand atomic bombs, identical to those that were once dropped on Hiroshima.

Scientist Garun Taziyev gives the approximate date of the explosion - 1470 BC and claims that as a result, about 80 billion cubic meters rose into the air. m crushed rock, and the waves that arose in the process reached 260 m. Danish scientists reasonably believe that the explosion took place in 1645 BC. e., - almost 150 years earlier.

Just at that time, the islands located in this part of the Aegean Sea were ruled by the Minoans, who achieved great success in science and handicrafts. As a result of a powerful volcanic explosion, as it was found, one of the developed cities on the island of Thira and the center of the civilization of the Minoans, located on Crete - Knossos, perished.

Most of the territory of the state was absorbed by the Aegean Sea. Probably, it was this event, the echo of which reached Plato through the centuries, and was reflected in his story about the country of the Atlanteans. True, in the interpretation of Plato, the size of the sunken continent is much larger, and the time of the catastrophe is shifted many thousands of years ago.

In other words, according to the opinion of the fans of this hypothesis, in the descriptions of Plato we are talking about the state of the Minoans. Indeed, according to his data, Atlantis was a developed maritime power, and the same could be said about the country of the Minoans, which had an impressive navy. Plato said that fat herds of sacred bulls grazed on the island of Atlantis, of which the Minoans had a lot, and they were also considered sacred. On seabed near Tyra, a ditch was discovered, similar to the one with which, according to Plato, the fortress in the capital of Atlantis was protected. Now the island of Thira is a fragment left after the explosion of a giant volcano. Excavated in 1967, the ruins of the Minoan city lay under a thick layer of volcanic ash and, like Pompeii, are perfectly preserved. Archaeologists have found many colored frescoes and even wooden objects here.

In 1976, the famous French scientist and aquanaut Jacques Yves Cousteau at the bottom Aegean Sea near the island of Crete, the remains of the ancient Minoan civilization were discovered. According to his calculations, it was destroyed during the crushing eruption of the Santorin volcano, which occurred in 1450 BC. e. Nevertheless, Cousteau always considered Atlantis a beautiful fairy tale by Plato.

The authority of Cousteau's opinion forced many scientists to "return" again to the hypothesis of the Atlantic Atlantis. The impetus for this decision was the discovery of a group of seamounts to the west of Gibraltar, which have table-like peaks, located only 100-200 meters below sea level. Many scientists consider these mountains to be the remains of a vast archipelago that sank in ancient times.

Pictures taken by a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1973 became a sensation. At that time, he took part in an expedition on the vessel "Akademik Kurchatov". Looking at eight underwater photographs taken by him, you can see the ruins of the fortress wall and other buildings on top of one of the seamounts.

As a result of the conducted in 1983-1984. research, scientists of the research vessels "Akademik Vernadsky" and "Vityaz" with the help of underwater vehicles "Paisis" and "Argus" confirmed that Mount Amper is an extinct volcano that once sank to the ocean floor. Well, the notorious ruins are far from the creations of human hands, but ordinary natural formations.

This means that the unsuccessful search for Atlantis in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean only confirms the conclusions of scientists looking for traces of her presence in the Aegean Sea. True, some disagreements arose in their orderly ranks. The reason for this in 1987 was the Russian scientist I. Mashnikov. He logically rethought the works of Plato and put forward a new hypothesis.

First of all, he disputes the time of the death of Atlantis, as well as some other data of Plato. For example, the number of land and sea forces of the Atlanteans. Judging by the words of Plato, the Atlanteans had a huge armada - 1200 ships, as well as an army, according to experts, amounting to more than a million soldiers. Accordingly, the Greek army that defeated the Atlanteans should have been no less numerous. According to Mashnikov's quite logical reasoning, in glacial period such a huge army simply had nowhere to come from, taking into account the fact that at that time the number of inhabitants of the entire planet was no more than 3-4 million people, while being at a fairly low level of development.

Accordingly, we are most likely talking about a different, much later time. Mashnikov says that ancient people recorded nine thousand as ten thousand minus one thousand, and, accordingly, nine hundred as one thousand minus one hundred. In the system of calculus adopted in Egypt, a thousand was denoted by the sign "M", and in the ancient Greek system "M" meant ten thousand. Apparently, Solon simply rewrote the Egyptian signs from ancient Egyptian documents, and Plato understood them in ancient Greek. Thus, 9000 appeared instead of 900.

Considering that Solon "stayed" in Egypt (560 BC) 900 years after the death of Atlantis, the approximate date of the disaster is 1460 BC. e. plus a possible error of 100-150 years.

Scientists, looking for Atlantis in the Atlantic, according to Mashnikov, took a false trail, because they did not doubt that the Platonic Pillars of Hercules, behind which this land was located, is the Strait of Gibraltar. But, under the Pillars of Hercules, apparently, some other place was meant. However, Plato has direct indications that allow you to determine the location of Atlantis. Plato says that on the Pillars of Hercules was laid maritime border between the Atlantean country and the Athenian state. And this means that these pillars could only be in the Aegean Sea. In another place of his story, Plato directly indicates that Athens opposed the state of the Atlanteans, which can be interpreted not only as a war, but also as a geographical one, that is, they were on the other side - on the peninsula of Asia Minor. At that time there was the land of the Hittites. In addition, according to the author, only here the cities were built according to a circular plan, creating canals, as if outlined by a compass.

But after all, Plato spoke of Atlantis as a large island that sank to the bottom of the sea. It can be assumed that part of this state was indeed located on an island, though not as large as Plato claimed. Probably, it was this island, and by no means the whole country, that perished as a result of a volcanic eruption or an earthquake, as a result of which only a chain of islands remained, which is now called the Sporades. It turns out that Atlantis is actually Hittia or its island part. In addition, Plato, in his retelling of Solon, claimed that Atlantis was at war with Athens. And from the sources it is known that in the XIV century. BC e. Egypt waged war with the Hittites, and after a while Athens entered the war, according to the historian Herodotus, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Hittites and captured 13 of their cities. Subsequently, the Hittite empire collapsed.

According to I. Mashnikov, the war between the Hittites and Athens is the key to unraveling another mystery. Obviously, "Atlanteans" is not a nationality, but a contemptuous name for an enslaved people. The sculpture of the enemy, who became a slave and propped up the cornice, was a symbol of the courage of the winners and the humility of the vanquished. The defeated Hittites were turned into slaves and became Atlanteans, their fallen state began to be called Atlantis. "Perhaps these arguments are not far from the truth.

Fancy version about the origin of Atlantis was put forward in 1992 by the German scientist Zangger. Some researchers consider his book about the secrets of Atlantis simply brilliant. According to Zangger, Plato's narrative is a distorted memory of the once fallen Troy. This ancient city, which was located near the Dardanelles and was described by Homer in the XII century. BC e. as fallen under the onslaught of the Greeks, was considered a myth. But, in 1871, the ruins of Troy were found by the German scientist G. Schliemann. At the same time, Zangger provides quite a lot of weighty evidence for this hypothesis, especially if we take into account the coincidences in the descriptions of Homer and Plato of the area in which Troy was located.

But what about the fact that Plato does not speak of a plain, but of a large island? Zanger believes that Solon is to blame for this. When reading hieroglyphic inscriptions on a pillar when visiting the main temple in the residence Egyptian pharaohs posted in Saisi, he made a mistake. Allegedly, these hieroglyphs denoted sand strip or coast. A serious mistake was also made in the designation of the place where Atlantis was located on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. It is possible that this name was borne by the Dardanelles.

According to the author of this version, another serious mistake crept into Plato's story, which consisted in incorrectly determining the time of the catastrophe. After all, on the column of the Egyptian temple, a story is written that nine thousand years ago the Greeks overthrew a powerful state - Atlantis. This hypothesis also has a weak side - inconsistencies, which the author explains by the mistakes of the ancient sages. In addition, the justification for determining the date of the war is rather unconvincing.

In general, each of the hypotheses has a certain rational grain, and which of them will eventually turn out to be true, only time will tell. Or a new hypothesis - after all, the mystery of Atlantis has not been solved so far.